Bonefish Rigging

[wrstern]

Dick, I read both of your bonefish books when they came out and thought they were great.

I am getting ready for a trip to Andros next month, and wonder if you have changed your line/rigging/leader recommendations since your text was published, and whether there are any flies that you think will be particularly good for the north part of Andros in April.

Thank you for participating in this forum.

[Marshrunner]

On lines, leaders and rigging, I find there are so many more products available today than a decade ago. And probably like many of you, I just have to try out a new line or two each season. For bonefishing while I use Cortland, Wulff, and Rio lines, my standard go to are the Mastery bf taper floaters. Some rods I over line 0ne weight, others I use the designated weight. For leaders, I seldom tie them anymore, favoring the performance and clean unknotted profile of the Climax leaders to which I tie a fluorocarbon tippet of 8, 10 or 12 lbs depending on the fish. Terminal knots with two turns through the hook eye (like the Trilene) OR loop knot's like Lefty's non-slip loop ar emy choice at the fly.

I meet many Andros anglers and guides who like to show me the new fly that attracts better than the Gotcha, and some of them work well. Eric Petersen's rear facing shrimps for example. But if you looked in my bag when I head to the Bahamas (and Andros north, south, or in between) you'd see one box with Gotchas (with wings of blonde, auburn, or orange) in sizes 8, 6, 4, and 2. Some Sim Rams for deeper water and also pink over tan clousers and tan ove white clousers are aslo deep H2O staples. And take something light and slow sinking like Pflueger's Hoy or Lefty's shallow water fly for tailers.

Dick

[ChemFly]

Dick,
I am waiting for your latest book to arrive this week, fore I too am off to Andros this coming Saturday and plan on reading it cover-to-cover during my stay.

As for your flurocarbon tippet selection and the use of a loop knot, do you feel that there is sufficient "connectivity", or sense of pickup, with the fly when a bonefish sucks it into its mouth? I seem to miss more fish with a loop knot for some reason or another. Perhaps you can advise us on the choice of knots.

Highest Regards,
Jeff

[Marshrunner]

Jeff, thoughtful questions.

I prefer the direct connectivity of a knot like the Trilene unless:

1. the fly is very heavy and i'm doing a lot of casting in which case I think the hinging at the knot weakens it of the mono itself, or ...
2. It impedes the action of the pattern. Some flies like crabs seem to have better action and reponse when they ride on a loop.

So in general, I'd agree with your leaning to non loops.

That said, I think sight is more important than feel in bonefishing. While you can't always see them well and sometimes hardly at all, seeing the fish enough to know if he's lit up or excited or at least approaching the fly to sniff it is better feedback than waiting to feel something through the line.

Dick

[ChemFly]

Thanks Dick. There are days on the flats when my eyes are ready to burn right out of my head, regardless of sunglasses, as I try to get a read on the Ghosts behavior. So any bump or tap on the fly is a sign of something, ANYTHING! The thinner the water the more transparent they become, yes!?
JW

[wrstern]

Dick, a quick follow-up on my rigging question:

What knots do you recommend at the leader/tippet connection (particularlry when using flourocarbon) and the flyline/leader connection?

Also, what do the Andros guides expect in the way of gratuities?


More broadly -- what do you see as the principal differences in techniques/methods for sightfishing for stripers here in the Northeast in comparison to bones/permit/tarpon in the tropics?

Finally, does the latest edition of your book reprint the first, or does it contain new content?

Thanks again for the advice -- I'm getting out my vise, and know what to do for the next couple of weekends.

[Marshrunner]

wrstern,

Leader to tippet with double surgeons; leader to fly line loop to loop with perfection loop in leader and perfection loop in a 9" leader butt of .028 hard Mason nail knotted to line (10-11 turns).

For best guidelines on guide tipping, check with good travel agents like Angler Adventures and Frontiers. I generally stay in the 10-15% range for good service and frequently take along fishing related gifts ranging from flies to small hardware or maybe a clothing item all of which are hard to get for most guides. I do not tip ill mannered or incompetent guides.

The newly released softcover edition of Fly Fishing for Bonefish is the original text. It had gone out of print after several printings and Lyons/Pequot and I thought it best to get the material back on the shelf as there were many requests for it. I may do an update in the future.

I'll answer your question re stripers vs bf later--it's a long topic and a very interesting one.

Dick

[Marshrunner]

wrstern,

Finally got around to your last question.

before cotrasting fishing for bones and stripers, you have to think of how the two fish differ.

Bonefish prowl inshore shallow waters looking for prey that for the most part resides in the area. They have small inferior (down-pointing) mouths lined with crusher plates designed for sucking up and crushing hard-shelled bottom-dwelling creatures.

In contrast, stripers hunt in waters that span a greater range of depth, looking for a combination of both resident and roaming prey. They have large mouths lined with moderate holding teeth evolved for chasing or lunging at larger prey anywhere in the water column, holding onto them, and swallowing them.

Where bones are optimized with tall tails and sleek bodies for making long, fast runs to escape sharks, barracuda, and porpoise, striper are built with large broom shaped tails and powerful bodies to make powerful attacking lunges at prey.

The largest differences in fishing for these two admirable species is that bonefishing is primarily a true sight fishing sport, while striper fishing--which can be visual in some circumstances--is largely a fishing-the-water pursuit in which you probe likely structure or likely locations where the fish can hold to ambush their prey or where they can corner the prey to attack it.

In bonefishing, you or you guide must see where the target is, what direction and speed it is traveling, how deep it is, how many fish are there and in what pattern they are arrayed, if you are to optimize your chance of getting a fly to the best location (far enough in front of the fish to avoid spooking them, close enough so they will come upon it before the change direction). Then you must keep watching the fish, to know when it (they) is close enough to your fly to strip it, and continue watching the fish’s reaction to decide if the stripping action is right for this fish, to see when it takes, and to decide when to strip strike.

In striper fishing, you react to many cues that tell you where the fish are--surface activity, bird activity, known or electronically detected structure, etc. and you present your fly to intersect with the place where you think the fish are, strip it to suggest the prey you believe will look tempting in this location, and then you find out if you are right when you feel a tug.

The sightfishing that does exist for stripers, can be challenging fun, but it is different. Stripers are more inclined to chase bait so you don't have to place your fly as precisely and they are (usually) not as spooky.

Equipment is a bit heavier for stripers, using 8 to 10 or 11 wt rods, a range of various density lines from floaters to sink tips to T14 dredgers, and flies that vary from an inch to a foot or more long tied on #2 to 6/0 plus hooks. Bones require 7 to 9 wt rods, floater or occasionally an intermediate lines, and flies are a 1/4” to about 3” long tied on #10 to # 1 hooks.

You access stripers from shore, wading, or in boats, with boats being the generally preferred method. Bones can be hunted both on foot and by boat as well, and while wading is often more enjoyable, boats a re more productive. Boats for bones should be super fly-line friendly, shallow draft, and light for poling without sound. Boats for stripers should also be super fly-line friendly and optimized to balance weight, freeboard, and hull deign for handling rougher waters and while also being able to drift easily on shallow flats.

Finally for many of us in the northeast, bones you can fish for 2 or 3 weeks a year at most, stripers can wear you out from May to October.